Tutorial 1 (Basic):

Simple Bracket

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Learning Objectives
• Explore the Abaqus interface
• Set up and run a simple analysis
o Import geometry
o Apply material and section properties
o Define steps, loads and boundary conditions
o Apply a mesh
o Submit a job
• Explore Abaqus viewer
o View contour plots

Learning Note: This tutorial assumes zero knowledge of the Abaqus interface
and intends to get the user acquainted with the typical analysis process.

It is also assumed that the user has some basic Engineering knowledge and
understands fundamental concepts such as stress/strain curves and consistent
units. If these things are new to you then we suggest researching them online
or asking your presenter should you be attending a training course.

To complete this tutorial you will need the accompanying CAD geometry
‘Tutorial 1.STEP’.

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 Geometry Import
To open Abaqus go to Start > All Programs > Abaqus (version) > Abaqus CAE.
Once Abaqus has loaded you can close the ‘Start Session’ window that opens.

Upon opening Abaqus it is important set the work directory to the folder you’re
working from. This keeps all the files in the same location, rather than writing
some files to the temp folder. Remember to select the folder and not a file inside.

• To set the Work Directory go to File > Set Work Directory, then navigate to
the folder containing the geometry by browsing to the folder

If the files are located on the desktop click the home button and double click
‘Desktop’ to view the files. You may also need to change the file filter.

• Import the geometry in the form of a step file – Tutorial 1.stp, using the
process outlined below

• Accept all default settings

This reads the AP203 STEP file of the geometry as shown below. Manipulate
the geometry to view the part.

To alter the mouse controls go to Tools > Options > View Manipulation and
select your preferred application.

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 Material and Section Properties
In this section you will define material properties, create a section definition and
apply it to the part.

• To define the material properties first go to the properties module, as

shown in the image below

Abaqus does not handle the units for us, so we need to take this into
consideration. For example, if our geometry is in mm and our force is in Newtons
then our stresses will be reported in MPa.

There are many options for material models, types and data, we are simply going
to define the most basic sort required for a linear run.

• Define some basic elastic material properties for Aluminium by using the
‘Create Material’ tool and name the material ‘Aluminium’ for clarity later

For a basic elastic analysis we only need to define an elastic modulus and a
Poisson’s ratio.

• Define a modulus of 70e3 (Newton and mm units – remember to be

consistent) and a Poisson’s ratio of 0.28

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We now need to define a section. With a simple material definition and solid
elements this often seems like an unnecessary step, but it comes into its own
with more complex models.

• Create a new solid homogenous section, give the section a unique name
and apply the recently created aluminium material properties to it by using

the ‘Create Section’ tool and click OK

Previously naming the materials and sections may not seem necessary but it
avoids confusion when applying definitions, particularly if we’ve created more
than one of each.

This section now needs to be applied to the geometry. This is how we tell the
software which parts are made of what.

• Click the ‘Assign Section’ tool , select the geometry in the viewport and
click ‘Done’ in the prompt area below the viewport

• Apply the recently created section and click ‘OK’

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 Create an Assembly
In Abaqus there is no such thing as a part on its own, it must always exist as an
assembly. Again, this may seem redundant for a single part but becomes more
obvious after the assembly lecture in the ‘Introduction to Abaqus’ training course.

• Go into the assembly module from the drop down module list to instance
the part (i.e. applying the part to an assembly)

• Click the ‘Create Instance’ tool , select the part from the list and click
OK

Clicking apply and OK both instance the part, so clicking both instances the part
twice. This is a common mistake that catches many people out. As both
instances reference the same global co-ordinate system they lie on top of each
other perfectly and often don’t become apparent until post-processing the results.

To check that you have only instanced the part once look how many instances

are listed under the assembly node in the feature tree, .

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 Define an Analysis Step
Abaqus has a wide range of solution types and options which we will explore in
later tutorials, for now we are going to define the simplest, a single step static -
general solution.

• Go to the step module, click the ‘Create Step’ tool , select a Static -
General step and click ‘Continue’

For now we will accept the default settings. This will solve the entire analysis in a
single step. This is possible for a very basic model like this, but more complex
analyses will require hundreds or even thousands of time steps to reach a
solution.

• Accept the default settings and click OK

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 Loads and Restraints
As there are no interactions in this model, we jump straight to the load module to
define loads and restraints. Restraints are particularly important as they stabilise
the model, without sufficient restraints the solution may not converge.

Firstly we define a full fixing at the pair of holes on the back of the bracket.

• Go to the ‘Load’ module from the module list

• Select the ‘Create Boundary Condition’ tool and choose
Displacement/Rotation, click Continue

• Select all the internal faces on both bore holes (hold shift to select multiple
faces) and click ‘Done’ in the prompt area at the bottom of the viewport

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If a face has been selected in error this can be de-selected by holding Ctrl and
clicking the unwanted face.

• In the ‘Edit Boundary Condition’ window that appears check all three
translational degrees of freedom (U1, U2 and U3) then click OK

Now we define a load in the form of a surface traction, this is a force per unit area
in a defined direction. A surface traction is similar to a directional pressure.

• Select the ‘Create Load’ tool , choose surface traction from the type
list and click ‘Continue’

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 • Select the face highlighted in the image below and click ‘Done’ in the
prompt area

• In the ‘Edit Load’ window enter a value of ‘1’ in the magnitude definition
and set the traction type to general

For a surface traction we need to specify a direction in which the force should act.

• In the ‘Edit Load’ window click the arrow located next to ‘Vector’ and in the
viewport select the two points highlighted below, then click OK

The nodes selected are arbitrary as long as they create a vector in the X-axis,
however the order in which the points are selected is important as this denotes
the direction in which the force will act. We want the force to be pulling on the
bracket as if it was bolted to a wall supporting a rope.

We have now created a 1N force in the X-axis direction.

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 Meshing
The meshing module’s function is self explanatory. By default Abaqus CAE will
try and mesh 3D parts using brick elements, however this only works for a subset
of possible geometries.

If you instanced the geometry as ‘dependant’ (instances are dependant by

default) you will need to view the geometry as an individual part before a mesh
can be applied to it. This is done by changing the object definition to ‘Part’ instead

of ‘Assembly’ at the top of the viewport .

This may seem unnecessary but in large assemblies with repetitive instances the
relevance of this functionality becomes obvious.

First we need to define meshing seeds, these control the mesh size and show
how the mesh will appear without actually meshing the part. This saves us from
having to mesh the entire component every time we modify the seed size.

• Go to the ‘Mesh’ module

• Click the ‘Seed Part Instance’ tool and assign a global size of 2
(remember this is in mm), accept defaults and click OK

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Next we define a meshing approach, this dictates the element shape and
meshing technique.

• Click the ‘Assign Mesh Control’ tool , select a ‘Tet’ mesh and accept all
the other defaults

• Click the ‘Mesh Part’ tool and click ‘Yes’ in the prompt area to apply
the mesh

The viewport will automatically update to display the meshed part. We can now
visualize our mesh and modify if necessary.

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The mesh can be locally refined using local mesh seeds. This is particularly
useful if we need to increase the number of elements at a high stress region but
don’t want a huge overhead by decreasing the element size for the entire model.

Before a local mesh seed can be applied we need to delete the current mesh.

• Click and hold the icon used to mesh the part in order to view the tools
nested beneath, scroll along and select ‘delete part native mesh’ ,
then click ‘Yes’ in the prompt area

• Select the two fillet faces in the model (holding shift for multiple faces), as

shown below, select the ‘seed edges’ tool and apply a local seed of
1mm, then click OK

• Now re-mesh the part using the ‘Mesh Part’ tool,

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 Submitting a Job
Finally we move on to the job module. Within this module we will create a run for
the analysis and watch its progress.

• Go to the ‘Job’ module in the module list

• Select the ‘Create Job’ tool and name the job

IMPORTANT: Do NOT accept the default name of ‘Job-1’. Two jobs of the
same name in the same folder will overwrite each other. It is good practice
to name the job something specific to the analysis.

• The job will now appear under the ‘Job’ section in the feature tree, to run
this job right click, select ‘Submit’ then click ‘OK’ in then ‘Edit Job’ window

Whilst the solution is running we can monitor its progress. This will give an
indication as to whether the job has been completed successfully, whether it is
still solving or if the job has aborted with an error.

If the job aborts or fails to converge go back over the previous steps to check if
everything is correct.

• Right click the job and select ‘Monitor’

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 Viewing the Results
Once the job is completed a message will appear in the ‘Log’ window in the job
monitor saying ‘Completed:’ with the time stamp of when the job finished solving.
A message will also appear next to the job in the feature tree indicating that it has

completed, .

• To view the results file right click the job again and select ‘Results’

CAE has a second feature tree for results processing and another set of menus.
Some of these features have been outlined below.

Common Options

Deformed shape

Contour plot
(Stress, Displacement etc.)

Animation

Section

Now we can create a contour plot of the results. It is possible to plot many
different quantities on the model but we want a Von Mises Stress plot.

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 • Select ‘Result’ > ‘Field Output’ from the menu bar, choose stress as the
variable and Mises as the invariant, then click OK

• Now we have selected what we require the contour plot to show we can
apply it to the model by selecting the ‘Plot Contours’ tool

Explore the tools available in the viewer module. Try creating a displacement
plot, animate the model or apply a section cut.

Congratulations, you’ve analysed your first FE model!

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